Richard Bartle is one of the leading academics on video games and is a senior lecturer and honorary professor of computer game design at the University of Essex in the United Kingdom. He might seem an unusual choice to talk about the ethics of artificial intelligence, but video game developers have grappled with the ethics of creating virtual worlds with AI beings in them for a long time. Not only do they have to consider the ethics of what they create in their own worlds, the game designers also have to consider how much control to grant players over the AI characters who inhabit the worlds. If game developers are the gods, then players can be the demi-gods. He recently spoke about this topic in a fascinating talk in August on the IEEE Conference on Games in London. I interviewed him about our own interests in the intersection of AI, games, and ethics. He is in the midst of writing a book about the ethics of AI in games.

In the House of Councillors election of July 2019 two new Diet members were elected who each have severe physical disabilities. One is an Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) patient and the other has Cerebral Palsy. Both are barely able to move their bodies and require large electric wheelchairs to get about. The assistance of a carer is also necessary. In particular, the ALS patient is dependent on an artificial respirator and is even unable to speak.

Woodside Energy announced on Tuesday it has signed a multi-year collaboration deal with IBM to leverage artificial intelligence (AI) and quantum computing to help it reduce operation costs and develop a "plant of the future" that can run itself. Speaking at IBM's Cloud Innovation Exchange in Sydney, Woodside Energy CEO Peter Coleman said he believes AI could help the company significantly reduce current plant maintenance costs -- an exercise that the business spends AU$1 billion on annually. "Because of the products we produce, our plants are covered in cladding and everything is insulated, so it's a huge cost for us to chase corrosion. Of course, AI will help in that. We really think AI will reduce that cost by 30%," he said.

Introduction to Tech Up For Women – A Network Of Opportunities To Stay Current And Create New Intentions! New technologies are being created at record lightening speed. The tsunami of innovations is creating a steep learning curve and those who surf ahead of this wave will be the ones who succeed. Technology and market disruptors are forcing companies to adapt quickly to remain competitive. In a world of increasing sophisticated cybersecurity threats, securing a website and protecting against intrusions, hackers and ransomware can prove a challenge.

Samsung has said it will increase its efforts in AI and 5G to drive innovation across the South Korean tech giant's business. As the world's largest smartphone and memory chip manufacturer – along with being a key player in many consumer devices including TVs, washing machines, fridges, and more – Samsung has established itself as a tech leader. The convergence of powerful emerging technologies such as AI, IoT, and the cloud, have the potential to radically shake-up the industry and dethrone established players if they don't keep pace. Samsung has made clear it has no intention of giving up its castle. "In a hyperconnected society via 5G, AI and internet of things, a company that innovates user experiences will be a global business leader," said Koh Dong-jin, head of IT & mobile communications at Samsung, during an AI forum held at the company's Seoul R&D Center.

Now, however, with artificial intelligence (AI) – essentially advanced analytical models – coming onto the market, cybersecurity actually has the edge. At present, vendors are doing far more than hackers with AI. Not that we can expect it to stay that way forever, but right now the good guys have the upper hand – and that gives the industry some time to prepare itself for the eventual rise of AI-enabled cybercriminals. The value of AI in this model is that it lets companies take large volumes of information and find clusters of similarity. This is always the focus of cybersecurity to a degree, but organisations are often unequipped to do so in sufficient depth because of time and resourcing constraints.

Robots are used in a variety of surgical procedures these days, but the brain has largely been a no-go zone for robot assistants in the OR. With the successful completion of an in-human robotic-assisted neurovascular intervention this month, that's set to change. The surgery was led by Dr. Vitor Mendes Pereira, a neurosurgeon and neuroradiologist at the Toronto Western Hospital and Krembil Brain Institute in Canada. Dr. Pereira's team utilized a vascular robotic device developed by Corindus. "The field of neurovascular intervention is changing rapidly, but there remains a significant need to expand access to care and reduce treatment times," said Mark Toland, CEO of Corindus.

Microsoft said in a blog post on Monday that it would honor California's privacy law throughout the United States, expanding the impact of a strict set of rules meant to protect consumers and their data. Microsoft said in the post it was a "strong supporter" of the California Consumer Privacy Act, known as CCPA, which will go into effect on Jan. 1. The California law is widely expected to harm profits over the long term for technology companies, retailers, advertising firms and other businesses dependent on collecting consumer data to track users and increase sales. The law raised fears among companies of a rise in a patchwork of state laws and prompted efforts in Washington to write federal legislation that would pre-empt state efforts. In September, Reuters was first to report that the federal privacy bill is not likely to come before Congress this year as lawmakers disagreed over several issues.

The retail industry in India, and globally, has been in a state of flux. With the euphoria around e-commerce having tempered, online retailers understood the importance of selling through stores even as offline players realised how significant the internet is for future growth. Yet, despite acknowledging the importance to co-exist through an "omnichannel model," most Indian retailers have not managed to successfully crack the code of offering shoppers the best of both worlds. But there's some inspiration they can take from Tesco, UK's leading supermarket. The 100-year old company operates in nine markets, including China, India, Malaysia, Poland, and Slovakia.

SciTech Europa Quarterly attended the UN AI for Good global summit, where the topic of discussion was how Artificial Intelligence can be delivered for social change in various ways across the public and private sectors. We spoke to Neil Sahota, IBM Master Inventor and World Wide Business Development Leader in the IBM Watson Group; United Nations (UN) Artificial Intelligence (AI) subject matter expert; and Professor at UC Irvine, at the event about how Artificial Intelligence can be used to deliver social change to achieve to UN sustainable development goals. Artificial Intelligence is critical for delivering social change for the goal of sustainable development. The United Nations estimates that there is a $7 trillion shortfall every year trying to achieve the sustainable development goals. The goals are for a better society and a better world, so the question of how we bridge the shortfall is very important.